05 March 2022

George Hirst at the double as 10-man Portsmouth ease to victory

05 March 2022

George Hirst scored twice as 10-man Portsmouth routed Accrington 4-0 at Fratton Park.

Accrington started brightly, with two shots early on, but it was Pompey who took the lead after 16 minutes. Mahlon Romeo worked a one-two with Marcus Harness and his cross was met by Hirst to put the ball beyond goalkeeper Toby Savin.

It was disaster for Pompey five minutes later when Harness was shown a straight red card for a lunge on Ross Sykes.

But the hosts added a second goal after 28 minutes when a Ryan Tunnicliffe corner was met with a firm Sean Raggett header into the bottom corner.

Another Tunnicliffe corner found Hirst’s head for a third goal in the 56th minute.

And after running the length of the pitch, Aiden O’Brien set up Tunnicliffe to complete a comfortable win with just under 20 minutes remaining.

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